Why Choose Bisnar Chase?
The California employment law attorneys at Bisnar Chase have been fighting and winning the cases they represent for over 46 years. Our California employment law firm has established a 99% success rate and a significant reputation for professionalism, compassion, experience, and skill.
Our paralegals, mediators, experts, negotiators, lawyers, and other legal staff have won over $900 million for our clients and continue to change people’s situations, find them justice, and rebuild their lives.
The complex field of employment law encompasses many legal issues in the workplace. California law protects employees’ rights regarding workplace treatment, fair wages, meal and rest breaks, and overtime payment.
Bisnar Chase’s California Employment Law Attorneys represent employees whose worker rights have been violated, who have not been paid for the work they have completed, and who are not given appropriate rights regarding breaks. If you need an employment lawyer for any workplace issues, contact us for a free consultation at (800) 561-4887.
Top Employee Rights Attorneys in California
Can I Sue My Employer in California?
Yes. For example, even though most employees in California are “at-will” (meaning they can be fired at any time without a reason), you can still sue your employer if they fire you for engaging in legally protected activities, such as reporting workplace harassment or discrimination.
If you are compelled to leave your job due to unsatisfactory working circumstances, this is known as “constructive termination,” and you have the right to sue your employer. However, it is crucial to remember that your employer’s actions must typically be illegal to file a lawsuit for constructive termination.
How Much Does an Employment Lawyer Cost in California?
Many employment lawyers in California work on a contingency fee basis, meaning they only get paid if they win your case. In this case, they typically charge around 33% of your total compensation. The attorney’s fees will come out of the settlement or verdict.
What Will an Employment Law Attorney Do for Me?
Having a labor law attorney on your side will help you avoid missteps that could affect the outcome of your claim. Typically, our attorneys work on various employment issues, including litigating wage and hour lawsuits, reviewing compliance procedures and finding violations, negotiating an employee contract, and other labor-related issues.
Workplace investigations require a qualified employment lawyer to uncover violations and pursue justice for the employee(s). Whether it’s wrongful termination, retaliation, harassment, or a wage and hour dispute, we will fully investigate the alleged violations of your rights as a California worker.
What Should I Look For When Considering My Lawyer?
- The cost of hiring the lawyer
- Legal experience
- Ease of connecting with the attorney and paralegals
- Reputation in the legal community
- Track record of winning cases
- Specific areas of expertise
- Ability to communicate effectively
- Licenced and bonded with a clean CA. Bar record
What Can I Do to Assist My Attorney?
Your cooperation is critical to a successful outcome. Ensure you follow all your attorney’s instructions, including all necessary paperwork, court documents, and evidence. Many times, a labor law case falls apart because the plaintiff loses interest and stops cooperating with the attorneys.
Bring all your pertinent documentation, grievances, and evidence to your consultation with the attorney. Always be upfront with the lawyer; hiding critical facts in your case can be detrimental later on.
What Are Some Examples of Violations or Unfair Treatment?
Discrimination:
- Being denied a promotion because of your age: If you’re qualified for a promotion but passed over in favor of a younger employee with less experience, that could be age discrimination.
- Being fired after disclosing your pregnancy: It’s illegal to fire someone because they are pregnant or might become pregnant.
- Being paid less than your colleagues for the same work because of your race or gender is a fundamental right. Equal pay for equal work is a basic right.
Harassment:
- Offensive jokes or comments about your religion or ethnicity: A hostile work environment created by offensive jokes or comments can be a form of harassment.
- Unwanted sexual advances or touching from a coworker or supervisor: This type of behavior is illegal and can create a hostile work environment.
Retaliation:
- Being demoted after reporting safety violations: It’s illegal for an employer to retaliate against you for reporting workplace safety concerns.
- Being fired after filing a wage and hour complaint: If you’re fired for complaining about unpaid wages or overtime, that could be retaliation.
Other Illegal Conduct:
- Being denied necessary family or medical leave: You can take leave for certain family and medical reasons.
- Being forced to work in unsafe conditions: Your employer must provide a safe work environment.
- Being denied wages that are legally owed to you includes minimum wage, overtime pay, and other earned wages.
Top 5 Most Common Employment & Workplace Violations
Every day, small businesses and large corporations worldwide engage in many misconceptions, justifications, and outright wrongdoing. It’s up to you to know when you are being taken advantage of or led down a path that is inefficient for you and probably not legal.
Many companies employ HR departments to ensure they are legally compliant. However, mistakes are often made that impact workers’ rights.
Here is a list of the top 5 most common employment and workplace violations that workers should know about:
- Not Paying Overtime: It is not up to your employer whether you are eligible for overtime pay. If you are non-exempt, your employer must pay you time and a half for all hours you work after 40 hours in a specified week.
- Misclassification of Workers: Many companies try to sneak under the radar and get away with sneaky justifications and stretching regulations. Some treat independent contractors like employees and allow them to fill out a 1099 form at the end of the year.
- Working Off the Clock with No Pay: All non-exempt workers must be compensated for their time working, taking calls, and/or other business matters when off the clock, at night, on the weekends, at home, or away from their desks.
- Disciplining for Social Media: The National Labor Relations Act protects employees’ ability to communicate and discuss how much they make with each other. This gives a legal opportunity to correct information being shared in a unionizing event or any other circumstance.
- Salary with no overtime for supervisor: According to the DOL, there is a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that states employers must pay their foreman or supervisor in charge of other employees of a manual labor position over time and not try and pay them a salary alone.
These are just a few examples of types of employment claims. Many others are common across California. For example, people with jobs involving manual labor, such as farm workers and factory workers, are often subject to poor working conditions. Even if these people are undocumented workers, they can file a lawsuit against their employer.
The violations, issues, and concerns of what many businesses and corporations are getting away with are devastating, making the importance of knowing, understanding, and standing up for you, your co-workers, and your family’s rights even stronger.
You may not be the only one experiencing these violations and deceptions. They could be silently or unknowingly happening to your friends, family, and coworkers. Now that you know not only what is wrong but identify the problem and are bold enough to hire an aggressively skilled and experienced law firm specializing in employment law legal representation,
Let Bisnar Chase win this case for you, recovering maximum compensation, as we have for over 12,000 clients, bringing in over $900 million.
California Employment Law Trial Attorneys
We are well-versed in California workplaces’ laws and will inform you if your case against your employer is eligible for compensation.
Our law firm has an outstanding team of legal professionals who work every case down to the last detail. Our California employment attorneys are also skilled trial lawyers and regularly take cases to trial.
Having superior legal representation when taking legal action against your employer is the smartest thing you can do. The lawyers at Bisnar Chase have almost 4 decades of experience winning employment rights and employment law cases.
Experiencing a violation from your employer can not only be highly frustrating and financially devastating, but it can also cause depression, PTSD, and emotional and interpersonal communication problems. These significant impacts on your personal life can be utterly traumatic and can rip families apart.
Don’t settle for a labor & employee rights lawyer who refuses to try your case, or simply settle with your employer. Read the summaries of the different categories of employment law below.
Wage and Hour Law Violations
Wage and hour cases are seen most frequently out of all the types of cases in employment law because these cases are easily the most documented cases of employment law violations. Wage violation occurs in the following situations:
- Employer fails to provide pay stubs with detailed information.
- Employees are classified as “exempt” and are not given overtime pay.
- An employer does not provide employees with 10-minute breaks for every four hours of work.
- Employers do not provide employees with meal breaks within the first five hours of work.
- Employer neglects to provide paid time for tasks required to properly prepare for work.
- Employer neglects to ensure employees are meeting minimum wage requirements.
- Employer neglects to provide second meal breaks for shifts longer than 10 hours.
Learn more about the specific California laws regarding wage and hour violations:
Harassment and Hostile Work Environment
Harassment on the job and unfair wages and discrimination are the realities of millions of American workers and apply when an employee of a company legitimately fears going to their workplace due to the hostile environment they encounter there. Filing a lawsuit in these situations is difficult, but not impossible. Visit our hostile workplace environment page to see if you have a case.
Wrongful Termination
California is an “at-will” employment state, meaning an employer may terminate an employee at any time, with or without cause. Though there are exceptions to this law, like in cases of whistleblowing or discrimination, the legal language generally makes it very difficult to bring a case against a company for wrongful termination.
Some attorneys will ignore wrongful termination cases because of this difficulty. Still, Bisnar Chase investigates evidence of wrongdoing within the termination process and other aspects of the employer’s treatment of its workers.
What are the rights of an employee when they are fired?
Employers must provide their employees with a notice of termination. This notice must contain the date on which the employer intends to terminate employment or, if the employer does not know the exact date, a good faith estimate of when it will occur.
The notice must also include information about any benefits paid out as part of termination and explain how they are calculated. An employee may be able to challenge an unfair dismissal by applying for wrongful dismissal.
A wrongful dismissal occurs when there is no reasonable cause for termination and the employer has not provided adequate notice.
Should I consult a lawyer before I am fired?
There are many reasons why you might be fired. But before you start panicking, it is important to know that there are some things that you can do to protect yourself.
If the employer has not given you a reason for the termination, it is essential to determine whether they have violated your rights. For example, if they have discriminated against you or violated your contract by terminating your employment without notice or giving a reason.
If this is the case and the employer does not comply with their legal obligations, you should consult a California employment law lawyer before accepting any settlement offer from them. At-will termination can apply in certain states.
What About Workplace Sensitivity?
To address workplace sensitivity and implied bias, it’s important for employers to create a culture of inclusion and respect. This can be achieved through education, training, and ongoing communication.
First, employers should provide employees with training on sensitivity and bias, including how to recognize and address these issues in the workplace. This can help employees understand the impact of their words and actions and empower them to speak up when they see or experience bias.
Second, employers should establish clear policies and procedures for addressing sensitivity and bias in the workplace. This can include guidelines for reporting incidents and a process for investigating and resolving complaints.
Third, employers should regularly communicate with employees about the importance of sensitivity and inclusiveness and encourage open and honest dialogue about these issues. This can help create a culture where employees feel comfortable discussing sensitive topics and addressing bias when it arises.
In addition, employers should strive to create a diverse and inclusive workforce and regularly evaluate their hiring and promotion practices to ensure that all employees have an equal opportunity to succeed. This can help create a more inclusive and respectful workplace for all.
Many employment-related complaints often come down to sensitivity, not actual abuse. However, it can carry over into abuse, whether it’s emotional or escalates to physical. An employment law attorney can tell you if your abuse claims meet the standards to file a legal claim.
Important Employment Labor Laws for California Workers to Know
California provides comprehensive job-protected leave policies that support employees’ family, medical, and personal needs, including provisions for pregnancy, disability, family care, child bonding, and bereavement.
- The California Family Rights Act (CFRA) offers eligible employees:
- Up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave
- Reasons include: personal serious health condition
- Caring for a family member with a serious health condition
- Bonding with a new child
- Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) mandates:
- Unpaid, job-protected leave for employees disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions
- Accommodations for affected employees
- Additional leave provisions:
- Up to 5 days of bereavement leave upon the death of certain family members
- Reproductive loss leave options
- National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
- Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
- California Family Rights Act (CFRA)
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA)
- Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
What is the Difference Between a Labor Lawyer and an Employment Attorney?
While the terms are often used interchangeably, there are subtle differences:
Labor Lawyer:
– Typically focuses on union-related issues
– Deals with collective bargaining agreements
– Works with labor unions and management
– Handles disputes between unions and employers
– Specializes in National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) matters
Employment Lawyer:
– Concentrates on individual employee rights
– Handles discrimination, harassment, and wrongful termination
– Addresses workplace harassment and wage disputes
– Covers issues like workplace safety and contract negotiations
– Works with non-union workplace environments
Both types of lawyers deal with workplace rights and relationships. Still, labor lawyers focus more on union-level interactions, while employment lawyers typically work with individual employee rights and workplace conditions.
2025 Best Employment Law Attorneys
Employees who deal with wage violations, wrongful termination, harassment, or a hostile work environment have a right to receive compensation.
- Attorneys specializing in wrongful termination
- Employment contract
- Experienced in wage and hour disputes
- Sexual harassment representation
Our top-rated California employment law attorneys have defended workers’ rights in courtrooms for over 45 years. We have the experience and resources to take on some of the most challenging cases in the state of California, many of which were previously rejected and denied by other very reputable firms because of their lack of experience, lack of knowledge, lack of resources, and lack of ability to win their cases. Call today for a free consultation. 800-561-4887.
At Bisnar Chase, we will win your case, or you won’t pay anything. We have five locations to serve clients throughout the state of California, and if you are too injured to travel, we can come to you.
